Can I Skip the Swim? All I Really Want is a Cookie.

Tonight I will brave the frigid temperatures of Lake Mendota for the first Aquathon of the season. The Aquathon series (www.fleetfeetmadison.com/aquathon) is comprised of five races during the months of May, June, July and August. Sponsored by Fleet Feet Sports, the races are held at Warner Park on the northwest shore of Lake Mendota. The Aquathon consists of a 1000-meter swim followed by a 5000-meter run. Each race is chip-timed and scored with points, and the final series scores are based on each athlete’s best four finishes out of the five events.

It’s a fun, mid-week event. Many of the competitors use the series to practice their open water swimming skills and transitions, and to gear up for Ironman. You wouldn’t believe how challenging it is to transition from the swim to the run. As you probably know, the order of events in a triathlon is the swim, followed by the bike, and then finally the run. Transitioning from the swim to the run in the Aquathon is totally awkward and gives very little time to catch your breath and warm up your legs.

Last year, I was the second overall female of the series. It always happened that I would be leading out of the swim, and then be caught half-way through the run by a former UW track star that passed me like I was standing still. We’ll see how I hold up this year. My favorite part of last year’s races was the Potbelly’s cookies waiting at the finish line. I would seriously hover over that box all night. Mmmm…Potbelly’s cookies. I sure do hope they have those again this year.